Lecture
A healthy style of life is a motivated or
unconscious choice of behavior depending on the natural environment,
socio-economic conditions, sex, age, education, the level of intellectual
and physical development, and the personal qualities of the
individual leading a healthy way of life. The World
Health Organization gives the following definition: "Health is a
state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and
not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
The absence of a single agreed view in defining the
concept of "human health" makes it possible to use, going
forward, the following concept: "health is the normal psychosomatic state
of a person who is able to realize his
potential of bodily and spiritual strength and to optimally
satisfy the system of material, spiritual, and social needs."
In the problem of forming human health, four of the
most important bases for classifying health have been established: first
— the essence of the concept of "health," where genetic,
physical, psychosocial, somatic, sexual, mental, and moral aspects are distinguished;
second — the levels at which health is realized (individual,
family, and population); third — the aspect of health assessment,
which includes an assessment of state — status at a
given moment in time — and an assessment of development
(ontogenesis, and family and population dynamics); fourth — the aspect
of the norm (static and harmonic). The essential indicators of
health that integrally characterize its various aspects are: the level
and harmoniousness of physical development; the functional state of the
organism; the level of immune and nonspecific resistance; the presence
of any disease or developmental defect; and the level of
moral-volitional and value-motivational attitudes [10]. Science has proven that human
health depends only 10-15% on the activity of healthcare institutions,
15-20% on genetic factors, 20-25% on the state of the
surrounding external environment, and 50-55% on living conditions and way
of life. The preservation of health depends entirely on a
person's own attitude toward this gift of nature and on
his way of life. What substantive characteristics are used in
considering health? At present, the functional approach has become the
most widespread. Its distinguishing feature lies in the individual's ability
to carry out the biological and social functions inherent to
him, and the loss of these functions is the most
widespread and significant social consequence of human illness for the
individual, the family, and society. In connection with the functional
approach, the concept of a "practically healthy person" has arisen.
For this reason, the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of both
health and illness have a fairly wide range of interpretation.
A way of life includes all of a person's main
activity: labor, social, psycho-intellectual, and motor activity, communication, and everyday
relations, as well as three categories: standard of living, quality
of life, and lifestyle. A healthy way of life also
expresses a certain orientation of a person's activity toward strengthening
and developing personal and public health. Thus, a healthy way
of life is connected with individuals' personally motivated realization of
their social, psychological, and physical capabilities and abilities. It should
be emphasized that a healthy way of life is the
basis for the prevention of disease. It realizes the most
valuable form of prevention — primary disease prevention, which forestalls
the onset of disease and expands the range of a
person's adaptive capacities. However, the function of a healthy way
of life is considerably broader and extends beyond a purely
medical problem. The concept of a "healthy way of life"
does not yet have a precise formulation, but the authors
hope that in the near future this concept will acquire
a methodological and conceptual form. For now, we would like
to use the concept of a "cultured way of life"
(civilized, humanistic), implying that health is inseparable from a cultured
way of life and is not an end in itself
but an organic component of the development and improvement of
both society and the individual. The main elements of a
healthy way of life presuppose: 1. productive labor (biological and
social factors); 2. a rational regimen of work and rest
(a clear rhythm of the functioning of the organism is
developed, and working capacity improves); 3. giving up harmful habits;
4. an optimal motor regimen (systematic physical exercise and engagement
in sport); 5. a culture of sexual behavior; 6. a
regimen of nutrition and sleep; 7. meaningful leisure; 8. a
culture of interpersonal communication and behavior within a group; 9.
a rational daily regimen and personal hygiene. The protection and
strengthening of students' health is largely determined by their way
of life. If a way of life does not contain
creative forms of life activity, its level declines. A student's
way of life cannot be imposed from outside. The individual
has a real opportunity to choose the forms of life
activity and types of behavior that are meaningful to them.
The expression of a person's self-regulation in life activity is
their lifestyle. An analysis of factual material on students' life
activity shows that it is disorderly and chaotically organized. For
example, 24-30% of time is spent on the sleep regimen,
10-16% on the nutrition regimen, and 15-30% on the regimen
of motor activity. If the health level of first-year students
is taken as 100%, then by the second year it
declines on average to 91.9%, by the third year to
83.1%, and by the fourth year to 75.8%. These facts
allow us to conclude that practical physical education classes at
a university do not automatically guarantee the preservation and
strengthening of students' health. It is ensured by many
components of one's way of life, among which regular
physical exercise and sport, as well as health-improving factors,
occupy an important place. The criteria for the effectiveness
of a healthy way of life are: 1. self-regulation
(management of the state of one's "self"); 2. self-realization
— the putting into practice of one's inner capacities
and abilities; 3. emotions — a person's experiences; 4.
feelings — a stable emotional state; 5. motive —
a conscious reason for a person's purposefulness; 6. self-esteem
— the result of a self-aware attitude toward oneself;
7. way of life — a characterization of the
conditions and features of everyday life (the mode of
life), or the choice of behavior depending on circumstances.
Standard of living is the degree to which material, cultural,
and spiritual needs are satisfied (an economic category). Quality of
life is the comfort with which human needs are satisfied
(a social category). Lifestyle is a behavioral feature of a
person's life, that is, a certain standard to which the
personality's psychology and psychophysiology adjust themselves (a socio-psychological category). Physical
health is the state of the human organism in which
protective-adaptive mechanisms are used optimally, resisting negative environmental influences. The
preservation of mental health is also of great importance here.
Mental health is a high level of the properties of
the human nervous system that ensure the joint work of
all the systems of the organism and interaction with the
environment, reflecting through sensations external influences that have positive or
negative significance for vital activity. With a healthy way of
life, both physical and mental health are preserved and enhanced.
A healthy way of life is a flexible combination of
forms and methods of everyday life activity that conform to
hygienic principles, strengthen the adaptive and resistant capacities of the
organism, and promote the effective restoration, maintenance, and development of
reserve capacities, and the optimal performance by the individual of
social and professional functions. One of the most important psychophysiological
functions is self-regulation. Self-regulation is the management of the state
of one's "self" by changing the overall behavior of
the organism, with the help of emotional and somatic
(bodily) reactions that, through feedback, affect the intensity of
the brain's directed activity. Through self-realization, the individual develops
their physical and mental health to the fullest. Self-realization
is the putting into practice of one's inner capacities
and abilities. An important part of the manifestation of
a person's mental and personal qualities is emotions. Emotions
are a person's experience of their attitude toward something
(toward a situation, toward themselves, toward other people, etc.)
at a given moment. At certain emotional moments a
person experiences feelings. Feelings are a stable emotional state
of experiences of a personal, social nature, characterized by
mood, passion, and phenomena of affect — brief, intense
manifestations of emotion. In order to achieve self-realization, a
person has a particular motive necessary for attaining a
particular goal. Motive is the conscious reason for a
person's purposeful activity, formed by their needs and reflected
in the form of desires, drives, inclinations, and impulses.
A person's self-esteem is of great importance for self-realization.
Self-esteem is the outcome of a person's self-aware attitude
toward themselves, the result of comparative self-knowledge, of knowing
one's own "self." The level of self-esteem most often
depends on one's standard of living and lifestyle. Lifestyle
is a multicomponent characteristic of the conditions and features
of everyday life, its mode, of society, and of
the person. A healthy style of life is a
motivated or unconscious choice of behavior depending on the
natural environment, socio-economic conditions, sex, age, education, the level
of intellectual and physical development, and the personal qualities
of the individual leading a healthy way of life.
1. Give a definition of the concept of "human
health" and list the factors that determine it. 2.
Consider how the interconnection between a student's general culture
and their way of life is expressed. 3. Describe
the structure of students' life activity and how it
is reflected in their way of life. 4.
Consider what a healthy way of life is
and list its components. 5. How is your
personal attitude toward health expressed as a condition
for forming a healthy way of life? 6.
List the basic requirements for organizing a healthy
way of life. 7. Name the criteria for
the effectiveness of a healthy way of life.
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